Associated Wholesale Grocers is building a distribution center near Pearl River

A new grocery distribution center promises to bring about 300 new jobs to the Pearl River area when it is completed in 2013.

View full sizeDanny Bourque, The Times-Picayune archiveA grocery truck is unloaded at the Rouses Supermarket on Tchoupitoulas Street in September 2008.

The 720,000-square-foot center, now under construction by Associated Wholesale Grocers, joins a Rooms to Go distribution center on Interstate 59 and could have a significant impact on St. Tammany Parish, said James Hartman, spokesman for the St. Tammany Parish Economic Development Foundation.

The Economic Development Foundation has been working for about two years to bring the distribution center to the Pearl River site, and the development has been the subject of rumors in the area under the code name "Project Ice Box."

"It's great all around," Hartman said. "The long-term impact of this will be hundreds of millions of dollars."

Construction on the 68-acre site is expected to employ about 588, and company officials hope the center itself will be completed by January 2013. Once completed, company officials will staff the distribution center with 300 workers.

Although it's unclear how many of the jobs at the center will go to local residents, Hartman noted that new employment has a ripple effect regardless of whether the people receiving a paycheck come from out of town. That's because workers will spend their money on goods and services in the area, he said.

The Economic Development Foundation estimates that the total impact of new employment is about eight times the amount of the actual new paychecks issued to employees, he said.

The new center is being constructed with about $75 million in Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds secured by Louisiana Economic Development. The bonds, which have low interest rates, are designed to bring developers to the areas hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"We're excited about the future of our new Gulf Coast Division and the potential for growth and expansion by our members in this dynamic region of the country," Jerry Garland, president and CEO of Associated Wholesale Grocers, said in a statement.

Hartman said the development along I-59 is a testament to the area's many advantages.

"St. Tammany already has a tremendous draw for logistics and shipping outfits because of the intersection of three interstates, our proximity to the Port of New Orleans not to mention Port Manchac and our proximity to railroads and to airports," Hartman said. "All those make us very appealing to things like what AWG is doing and what Rooms to Go was doing."